


It's Peak

by calmdowncold



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: First Kiss, Hiking, Kayfabe Compliant, M/M, Nature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 12:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14401893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calmdowncold/pseuds/calmdowncold
Summary: Sami doesn't hike. He doesn't follow trails. He doesn't explore the woods. But he sure likes Finn, and blindly follows him into a forest under the promise of a 'reward' once they're done.





	It's Peak

Sami had been happily crunching on some baby carrots in his hotel room when the text came through. 

‘What room are you in? I miss you. Wanna ask you something’ from Finn. 

They hadn’t yet been able to really talk since the Shakeup Gods blessed them with being assigned the same roster. They had been pulled here and there by various friends, and Finn had been busy saying goodbye to Gallows and Anderson before they went separate ways. It was hard on him, Sami knew. 

But god, Sami missed him so much. The past year had been difficult. They had gotten to see each other maybe once a month, for a few hours or so. Sami tried to make it to Brooklyn whenever he could to visit Finn and catch a latte at whatever hipster coffee stop he was into. But they were both always so tired and so busy. Sometimes texting and Facetime just wasn’t enough. Sami missed his smell and his warm, tight hugs so much. More than he could explain, really. 

So after a few hugs and a proper catch-up, Finn invited Sami to a hike. 

Sami had balked at first, mostly in fear of not being good at something that Finn excelled at. But he was assured that it was just for fun and to appreciate the outdoors. 

But then Finn said a certain key phrase that Sami couldn’t resist. 

“I thought of a fun reward I could give you once you complete a trail with me.” Finn teased, batting his pretty eyelashes and giggling in that marvelous way he did. 

“Reward?! You can’t just say that and not tell me the details!” Sami gaped. 

Finn did not tell the details. 

Never one to resist curiosity, Sami agreed to the hike.

* * *

“So where exactly are we going?” Sami yelled. 

Finn had decided to go “off trail”, leading them into rocks and overturned trees along a rushing creek. They had been climbing and adventuring for at least a mile now, occasionally splashing each other in the water and swinging around on thick branches. Finn had packed lunches for them both and kept them safe in his ‘climbing backpack’. Not to be confused with his ‘gym backpack’ or his ‘leisure backpack’. It was a blast. 

“Um…” Finn slowed up so Sami could meet him. He craned his head all around, as if to find a way out of the canyon they’d gotten themselves into. 

 

To either side of them, the mud and trees and leaves formed walls, maybe 50 feet high. 

Finn eyed a route, particularly heavy with thick tree roots above the surface of the soil. 

“Here…” He pointed. 

Sami bit his lip, assessing the challenge. 

“I dunno, Finn.” 

“You can do it.” Finn looked back, nodding. “Here, watch me.” 

And with zero hesitation, Finn hopped on the nearly 90-degree angled wall and began scaling it, seemingly with ease. He knew exactly where to grab, but still yanked on each branch before relying on it to hold him. Before Sami knew it, Finn was at least 20 feet high and found a perfectly curved tree trunk to rest on, sitting on it like a hammock. 

“Come on! Just follow there!” He yelled down, pointing to a trail of roots and rocks. 

Sami made a face, but obediently sloshed through the rushing creek water, feeling entire puddles in each of his boots. 

He did his absolute best effort to copy Finn’s motion, grabbing here and there. Leaves would give way and fall into his face, making him gasp in fear, but he trucked on. Once Finn saw him doing okay, he continued up another ten feet at least. 

Sami reached the tree trunk Finn had sat on. His heart was beating quick now so he tried to calm down and focus on where to hold. He grabbed the tree with his right hand while his left was clutching a protruding rock. His right foot was safe on a root while his left foot was angled upwards against the mud wall. Putting all his weight on the stronger foot, he reached his left hand up to take the tree trunk and pull himself up. 

Unfortunately, the distance hadn’t been measured well and with a snap, a shriek and a terrified cry of his name from above, Sami went toppling down the wall. 

Since he had been pressed against the dirt as closely as possible, he mostly stayed that way all the way down, but made sure to hit every sharp rock and branch as he did. 

Twenty feet later, now covered in bruises and scrapes, jeans and shirt a little torn and ears hot with embarrassment, Sami fell into the creek with an ‘oof!’. 

“Sami!” Finn called from nearly all the way up top. 

Sami stopped for a moment and just breathed, trying to assess if anything was broken or badly cut. He decided, _no, you’re okay, come on, be cool, be tough_ and shakily got back to his feet. 

Finn had made his way almost halfway back down. 

“Sami, are you okay?!” He yelled, finding that same tree spot again. 

“Yeah!... I fell…” Sami yelled back, huffing. 

“I’m coming to help you!” Finn said, moving his feet from under him to scale further downward. 

“No!” Sami’s Pride responded before he could. 

“No, I can do it…” Actual Sami said, nodding to himself and looking for a clearer route to take up. A leaf fell from his hair and obstructed his vision briefly. He batted it, and a nearby horsefly away and got back to work. 

Looking up, he could see Finn on the tree, eyes filled with concern. 

Sami wanted to attack the trail like a man on a mission, but instead very carefully selected each step. He thought he was being cautious before, but found that this snail’s pace suited him well. 

To his relief, Finn had climbed back to a landing where the ground grew flatter. 

Meanwhile, Sami was wondering if this trail would be where he died, as he grew more and more exhausted with both his own failure and the physical strain on his thighs and arms. He kept losing grip, kept feeling his feet slip from under him. He was maybe only 15 feet up now when Finn called over. 

“Come on, Sami! Come on, you can do it! You’re so close!” His little head was poked out, barely visible to Sami, who was keeping his eyes out for the next root to clutch. 

Panting hard, his lungs wracked and pleaded for air as he crawled. Knees were sunk into the muddy surface with no traction to be found. Desperate now, Sami kicked and kicked in the same spot against the wall, attempting to create a hole or perch for his foot. Moot point, as no matter how hard he kicked, the mud was too dense and slippery to support him. 

“Come on, Sami, go!” Finn did his best to encourage, but nothing was louder than the breaths coming from Sami’s mouth. 

Taking a regrettable look down, Sami glanced over his shoulder and saw the now very familiar fall downward. He eyed a particular branch that he was sure was the one that ripped his jeans. 

_Well… Nothing to be afraid of if you’ve already fell, eh?_

Sami stretched an arm out, as long as he could, and took a weak grasp of a root. He said a little prayer, put all his weight on the foot secured by the trunk, and tightened his grip. With a big exhale of a nervous breath, he pulled his body weight up, just close enough to grab another root with his free hand.

He pulled and climbed and breathed and sweated. Each footstep was carefully calculated, each root shook to check its security before relying on it. 

And before he knew it, he was at the top! An overturned tree was used to secure himself, keeping his body steady enough to stand up straight. 

“Phew…” He sighed, wiping at his forehead. 

“You did it!” Finn beamed. “Come on, just a little ways more and we’ll have lunch!” 

“Okay…” Sami gasped and examined the remaining area. It wasn’t nearly as steep now, with only a few wiley branches in the way. He followed Finn’s lead, mimicking his steps around leaf piles and rocks almost identically. 

“Almost there!” Finn called back. 

Sami could see a nice gazebo with a picnic table in the very near distance and hoped that it was unoccupied. 

A few more steps, grunts, pants and branches and they were back on solid ground. The trail leading to the parking lot was in their vision, and the gazebo was about 50 feet away. 

“Man, that was exhilarating, eh?” Sami said, tossing a thumb back to the trail. “Can’t believe I-” 

His sentence was cut off as Finn pounced, throwing his smaller frame into Sami’s chest. Their lips connected, and even though they were both dirty and sweaty and tired and tasted a little bit like soil, it was completely perfect. 

Sami parted his lips and proudly accepted his celebratory kiss, apathetic entirely to whomever may have been around. 

Now it was Finn’s turn to breath hard and he returned to his own two feet. His eyes glittered in the sunshine visible through the trees. 

“Was that… my reward?” Sami asked. 

Finn licked his lips. “Mhm… Well, that. And I made you a PB&J with organic blueberry jam.” 

Sami laughed, and couldn’t think of a better thing to say other than: 

“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I went hiking today and what happened to Sami actually happened to me so I wanted to write about it. One shots are fun.


End file.
